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Friday, January 24, 2014

The Trolls Book Review

The Trolls by Polly Horvath

Melissa, Amanda and Peewee spend a wonderful week full of stories with their Aunt Sally. Some of the stories are scary and some are funny. But the children can not wait for a new one each evening after school.

Aunt Sally is the last resort babysitter for the children when their parents leave on vacation after their regular babysitter gets sick. Their dad has not talked about his sister Sally and the only communication is a yearly Christmas card from her. But the children get to know her and their family pretty well by the end of the week.

Melissa and Amanda are not very nice to their little brother Peewee, whom Aunt Sally calls by his real name Frank. Aunt Sally doesn't say anything, but her stories tell the girls plenty about family and how important it is.

I listened to this as an audio book with my children. They enjoyed the stories even if not all of them ended happily, each one had a "sorta" lesson. I'm especially glad about the story that got my children eating more of their green beans at dinner.

I recommend this for ages 8 and up. There are some scary elements. After all, the title is The Trolls. But there is nothing too bad, and beware of one choice word (hell). Yes, in a middle grade book. I didn't draw attention to it and my children didn't seem to notice.